


Mechanical Wonders

by Amaranthkick



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Robot!Shiro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-08 01:31:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14683635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amaranthkick/pseuds/Amaranthkick
Summary: Inspired by bleusailor's wonderful art featuring a giant robot Shiro with a little Lance.





	Mechanical Wonders

**Author's Note:**

> [Here's the link](https://bleusailors.tumblr.com/post/173919424735/some-sweet-shance-au-bc-i-wanted-to-draw-robot) to bleusailor's beautiful art that inspired this.

Lance was an upcoming star pilot for the Galaxy Garrison, a military and space research facility that trains cadets into top pilots. At least that’s what he wanted to be, however his test scores placed him in the training program for cargo pilots.

There was a fighter class pilot by the name of Keith that he would, at every chance, rope into some kind of competition. That Keith was a bit of a quiet loner but his skills at piloting were unmatched, a prodigy they called him. It was to prove to everyone and himself that he could rival this top pilot. If he could last a second against him then he was one of the best.

Then one day Keith had a fight with one of his superiors Commander Iverson and was immediately expelled. Rumor has it that Keith even punched Iverson in the face and caused the Commander’s recent permanently closed eye. With his departure, the fighter class had a free spot and Lance was next in line to fill it.

Lance was thrilled to finally get the spot he was aiming for but he still felt guilty about how he earned it or rather didn’t earn it. Sometimes Lance would wonder where he’d gone, it was like the kid just disappeared.

* * *

In the Garrison Lance met a sweet fella named Hunk who was a master mechanic. Actually it was Lance who would describe him as such, bragging about his friend’s skills to anyone. He seemed fascinated with culinary arts as well. Lance was able to convince him to sneak out with him a few time to have some fun, grab some contraband outside food and stuff and sometimes -only a few times- get caught. All in all Hunk was an amazing friend and Lance was happy that they were assigned to the same group.

Although, there were times Lance felt that Hunk was suspicious about the Garrison. Lance just brushed those feelings aside, he was always a ‘trust first, doubt later’ kind of guy.

In the group, Lance was the fighter pilot, Hunk was the mechanic, and their communications officer… was Pidge. He was a small guy but full of fire. He was amazing with a computer and it seemed like only Hunk could understand what he was doing. If he didn’t know any better he’d say that they knew each other but were trying to hide it. Pidge would rather keep to himself and his computer than hang out with them. Lance got the feeling Pidge was looking for something. It didn’t stop Lance from trying to include him in “bonding exercises.” Sometimes Hunk would take Pidge’s side, asking Lance to give him some space so they wouldn’t interrupt him.

Their synergy in the sims were… lacking, to say the least. Problems upon problems would arise in their ship and in most endings Lance crashes their ship into the ground.

Lance was determined to get better though. One night he dragged Hunk out of bed and they headed towards Pidge’s room to grab them and do some bonding. He saw Pidge secretly exiting his room and expertly followed him to the roof.

Pidge was on their computer with green headphones on, listening intently for something. Lance creeped closer, pulling one speaker off his ear and whispered, “you come here to rock out?” Effectively scaring the daylights out of him.

“Oh Lance… it’s just you.”

“Whatcha doing here? It seems like you’re always on your computer looking for something.”

Pidge bit his lip internally debating whether to tell him just what exactly he’s been doing before sighing when he saw Hunk nodding, a sign Hunk trusted Lance. “…You’re right.”

Lance rolled his hand encouraging him to continue.

Pidge looked around making sure they were the only ones up there, “you can’t tell anyone. The Garrison… they have something important to me, to us. I’ve finally found where they hid it. Now I was just looking at their security details. They got it under tight watch.”

“‘Us’, huh?” Lance turned to Hunk, “you in on this too?”

Hunk stiffened in surprise that Lance made the connection between the two of them then nodded. “Yeah. We need to get it back.”

 _‘Get it back’ huh?_ Lance thought, _to everyone else it would be more like stealing it from the Garrison._ “I just wanted to bond with you guys some more. I’m all for things like sneaking around under the guards noses and maybe even set up some history worthy pranks but that’s…” Serious. A crime with serious consequences. The Garrison did have some influential power, he swallowed nervously at what they could do to someone that tried to steal something from them especially this item that’s so important that it’d have a lot of security watching it.

But looking at Pidge and Hunk… their eyes told him that this is what they came here to do, that there was no going back for them. So he believed them and hoped he was doing the right thing. “Okay. How can I help?”

Hunk and Pidge gaped in shock.

* * *

The game plan was to get Lance to sneak into a room on the B4 level, he was good at hiding from the guards. It was important that their timing be impeccable. Pidge, with Hunk’s help managed to hack into the Garrison’s systems, looping the camera videos to hide Lance from the security feeds. Pidge carefully guided him through the halls often taking a longer route to avoid patrolling guards. Lance took deep breaths to steady his heart. Pidge told him that they had someone on the outside that would provide a distraction if needed. The outsider was also the getaway pilot, he was ready with a ship of his own.

After many detours and hiding for excruciatingly long moments, he finally reached the room, only to find that there were two guards in front of the door.

“Pidge?” He whispered into his earpiece Pidge gave him.

“Don’t worry, right about now they should be changing their guard giving you a small opportunity to go in and out.”

And true to his word the two guards began to leave their post. With quiet steps he rushed to the door. There was click as Pidge remotely unlocked the door granting him entrance.

“It should look like a tablet.” Hunk described.

In the center of the room was indeed a large electronic tablet, the tech looking way more advanced than anything the Garrison offered. There were many wires hooked onto it. They must have been trying to hack it and by the looks of things they weren’t having much success.

“Okay Lance, I disabled the alarms in there, you should be able to unhook all those wires safely now. Get it and get out of there.”

Lance carefully disconnected the wires one by one and pulled the last one.. Only jump as the alarm started wailing.

“Lance! I don’t know wha– zzt – out of there now!” Something was jamming their comms. Must be a security measure, the Garrison sure was resourceful.

“Guys, get to your ship! There’s a holding dock on B1 for the cargo ships. I can take one and follow you–”

“Hey! Stop right there!”

“Oh no.” He held the tablet tight to his chest as he ran as fast as he could away from the guard.

Lance didn’t stop running, not to catch his breath, not to try and hide, not for the sudden rumbling from ground level. He caught some guards yelling about an accomplice setting off explosives. Lance thanked Pidge and the so called accomplice for the much needed distraction, some of the guards chasing him left to help deal with the situation outside.

By the time Lance managed to get to the holding dock he had lost the few remaining guards tailing him.

Lance climbed into the nearest cargo ship and prepped it for flight. There was more rumbling and moonlight started to filter in. The cargo bay doors were opening, Lance was eternally relieved Pidge heard his message.

Guards started to swarm the dock and Lance took that as his cue to make like a tree and leave. With a burst from its rockets, the ship sped away into the night sky.

He saw a red speeder fly in front of him, that had to be the getaway vehicle. Nice ride.

Lance followed it as fast as the cargo ship could take. He yelped when a laser narrowly missed him. The Galaxy Garrison fighter jets chasing after them.

They flew for miles when what looked like a blue portal opened up in front of them.

“That’s our ticket out of here.” A familiar voice sounded in the ship’s comms.

“Keith?!” He was in on this too?!

The speeder disappeared into the portal and Lance was right behind almost home-free. He was about to pass through when the ship jerked violently, a laser fire hit its mark and one of the rocket engines exploding off. The cargo ship tumbled through the portal before it closed.

Lance screamed as he tried to stabilize the ship to fly through the tunnel but the ship couldn’t fight the strong force veering him off course and into the waves of light that made up the “walls” of the tunnel.

The next thing Lance saw was a totally new environment, a land green with lush grass and forests and unrecognizable shapes in the distance. And he was going to have a very personal view of the ground if kept going at this rate. He pulled down on the controls trying to ease the landing and strapped himself and the tablet securely to his seat. As he neared the ground he closed his eyes and hoped for the best…

When Lance woke up none worse for the wear, he thanked his lucky stars he was alright. Now if he could only say the same for the ship. It was a total wreck. He unstrapped himself and the tablet (also scratch free) with a shaky hand. Lance checked the controls but nothing was working. The ship was no longer sky worthy and the comms were busted.

Lance took a closer look at the tablet. Maybe Pidge wanted it because of its advanced technology. If it was as hi-tech as it looked then maybe, just maybe it might have a comms system too and he could call for help.

He gently tapped on the screen as there were no buttons hoping it would turn on. “Please work, I really need help.” He whispered to the device as if that would entice it to work.

As if it heard his plea, a small symbol appeared at the top right corner. It was in red and fading in and out. The universal symbol for low power. This thing needed energy to work.

“Hmmm. This ship isn’t going anywhere, I could use it to fuel you up. If it can that is.” He muttered the end bit, he wasn’t sure if these two were compatible but he gave it a shot anyway. He hooked up the tablet to a part of the control board that wasn’t smashed in, that was when he ran into his next problem. “Now, how do I divert all its power to you?” He was no tech whiz like Pidge or Hunk and the smashed controls weren’t helping either.

Lance was startled from his thoughts when a tiny ‘zing’ noise came from the tablet. The symbol was no longer red, now a stable white. This tablet was so cool, was it responding to him? Maybe there’s an awesome AI in there and it took his words as permission to siphon the ship’s fuel.

A pale blue screen appeared along with a written message:

>>>thank you.

“Aww you’re welcome bud. But uh, could you help me? Is there any way for you to contact my friend Pidge or Hunk or really anyone for help? I’m kinda stranded here.”

>>>main body has comms. I can call for help if you wish.

“Yes! That would be awesome, thanks! But uh, ‘main body’?”

>>>was separated from it a long time ago. Was corrupted, had to seal it away

“Oh and I guess you had to be stuffed into this little tablet to protect yourself.”

>>>yes

Lance smiled softly, “then I’m glad you’re alright.”

The tablet was silent for a bit but it felt warmer in his hands. Lance got the vague impression that it was blushing but that couldn’t be right? It was just the heat of it recharging, must be.

>>>thank you

Lance, feeling infinitely better that he had some sort of plan, got up ready to tackle what the day had in store for him. “I’ll help anyway I can, is your body nearby?”

>>>yes

Lance grinned, “then lead the way.”

The lights in the ship shut down signalling that that was all the power the tablet was going to get.

>>>enough power for two more days

“Wha– are you going to be alright? If we can get you to your body, then you don’t have to worry about energy right?”

>>>yes

Lance sighed in relief. The screen showed a compass like arrow pointing out toward a large mountain in the distance. How lucky that he crash landed to the place where the tablet’s body was sealed away. “Okay, I know the general direction of where I’m supposed to go. I’ll try not to keep you from displaying this for too long. Conserve as much energy as you can.”

When the screen blanked out Lance started walking forward. He found that there was a small handle on the right side of the tablet where he could attach it to his belt. But before he did, “Oh that’s right, I’m Lance nice to meet you. And you are?”

>>>Designation: Shiro

>>>A pleasure to meet you as well

* * *

He walked through empty fields and quiet forests. No sound to accompany him but the rustling he caused from stepping on the grass and birds flying in the distance. As he got closer to the mountain, he saw that it was not a mountain but a giant glass building. By the time he got to the foot of the building it, night had fallen. The glass of the building was tinted so he couldn’t see what was in there from the outside.

There was hole in the wall created by some trees and plant life near the building. Lance entered from there and saw that the inside was in disarray. Shards of glass and metal plates everywhere, the plant life was starting to take over. Shiro must have been separated from his body for a really long time.

There seemed to be an entrance to a room right in front of him but it was blocked by debris and vines. The vines climbed quite a ways up a wall, he had to crane his neck to look up and up and up where the vines headed. But there seemed to be an entrance he can get through up there. Nowhere to go but up so he started climbing.

He made the mistake of looking down while he was climbing and clutched the vines tighter in his hands. He gulped, it was a really long way down. He would never survive if he fell.

Eventually Lance made it to a safe ledge, where he laid down panting and wiped his sweaty palms on the sleeves of his jacket.

Once he gathered himself he pressed onward through the corridor. The room it led him too was gigantic and breathtaking in a way. The moonlight was tinted blue as it filtered through the glass, vines were growing on the walls and other fixtures, some hanging in the air like ropes.

…Then there was that giant figure in the middle of the room. It looked similar to a human but obviously much more larger in size. Lance was on a ledge that reached were the figure’s ribs would be and he still nearly broke his neck looking skyward to take it in. It seemed to be wearing gleaming white armor purple lights accenting it. The head was tilted down, eyes closed and face lax as if it was sleeping. There was a prominent scar on the bridge of its nose. The hair was black with a shock of white in the front. It’s right arm was torn off leaving only a few cables hanging limp from what was left of the arm. Large cables were attached to the figure’s back.

Lance’s eyes widened as an idea popped into his head, “holy crow! Is _that_ your body?!”

>>>yes

>>>inside there is the main core that you must take me too. It should be in the center of the chest. But you must get rid of the corruption before doing so or I will get corrupted in turn

“Alright… but I’m no Pidge, I’m not sure how I’ll get rid of a computer virus on this scale.”

>>>the corruption is more physical than technological. It spread quickly, my friends had to seal me away before it corrupted them too.

“Whoa.” Did that mean there were more giant robots like Shiro? Guess he could wonder about that later. For now, it seems being a small human was just what Shiro needed. There was something he could do to help Shiro. He placed Shiro back on his belt before he could read his next message:

>>>Please be careful Lance

There were no platforms for Lance to get close to Shiro’s front but the cables attached to his back, he could climb the vines to them and use them as a bridge to get to him.

The cables were sturdy enough for him to run across to get to Shiro’s back. Once he reached the end he patted on the surface until a hatch opened up for him. He entered not expecting the purple lights inside. He traveled through the corridors till he heard a rapid beeping coming closer. Lance hid in a small niche in the wall. He saw several floating mechanical drones sweep the area but thankfully missed him.

>>>drones, they are to uphold internal repairs and act as scouts for intruders. There are larger ones armed with weapons that are to be used against threats.

But since they’re corrupted and Shiro can’t go into his own systems yet to tell them he was friendly, they’ll see him as the threat. Great, it was the Garrison Heist all over again.

Shiro had a map of his internal structures and helped guide him to his core. He almost made it with no hassle but an annoying siren blared from a drone as he approached his goal.

Lance ran into the room diving in before the door slammed shut trapping him inside. In the far end of the room was a large crystal embedded in the machinery and a control board in front of it. Purple circuitry lines of light pulsed like a heartbeat from it. There was a dark purple gunk splattered across the room especially on the core. Lance flinched as a circle of yellow appeared on the corruption. It looked directly at him.

Lance covered his ears, muscles tensing in fear as it let out a high-pitched screech. The gunk from all around the room gathered over the core. There were parts of drones mixed in and it manage to make a plasma sword with the weapons it gathered. It seemed to create a slim upper torso and had no legs, instead it floated ominously swinging the sword in its arm threateningly at Lance.

How could he fight back? Lance yelped as he tumbled forward to dodge a swing of its sword. That thing was fast! As he was trying to get away from it he spotted more broken pieces of drones scattered and what looked like a laser gun among the pile. He thanked his time with the Garrison which had him and the rest of the cadets learn basic handling of a rifle. He was a top sharpshooter in his class.

He made a dive for it, grabbing it then rolling away from the corruption. As soon as he was upright he fired at the corruption shooting it in its ‘eye’. It was stunned and Lance used that opportunity to fire away at it. Each blast chipped away at its body, Lance nearly destroyed half of purple mass that made up its body before it had enough.

It seemed that Lance only angered it as it screeched again, its eye widening and Lance ran away from its line of sight. It fired consecutive laser blasts after him. One blast was too close to dodge and its impact knocked him down. It closed in on him rearing it sword for one final attack. Lance yelled as he pushed himself up, his rifle had a clear up close shot at its eye, the muzzle mere inches away. He fired.

And the corruption exploded fiercely knocking Lance into a wall.

When he opened his eyes the tense feeling from the corruption had lessened immensely, no trace of any purple goop was left. At least in the main core room. And speaking of the core, no longer was it pulsing purple, it was now a lively bright blue. The corruption no longer had much of a hold on it. Jush one final push.

>>>Set me into the control board. With the corruption gone and its control weakened I should be to purge it from my systems and take back my body.

Lance did just that and Shiro’s quintessence filled the core and spread throughout his mechanical body. The door to the room opened and all the purple lights returned to normal.

Lance fell to the ground, not sleeping for a whole day and dealing with everything that has happened were finally catching up to him. He closed his eyes to take a short rest.

Shiro needed some time to reboot his systems. But as he went through a self diagnostic check, he inadvertently activated some systems such as trap doors. One of which opened up right under Lance, he jerked awake as he fell. The slide led to a hatch in the front of Shiro’s chest where there was nothing for him to land on. He screamed as he fell to certain doom only for something to catch him.

Lance opened his eyes, a large hand caught him and gently lifted him up. The sudden movement from the giant body caused some birds to fly away. He looked up, the soft blue moonlight framing his savior. Lance gasped in awe as a friendly face stared back at him.


End file.
